| The Fog | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Production | |
| Season 3 Episode 5 | |
| Air date | 20 September 2009 |
| Written by | Kater Gordon |
| Directed by | Phil Abraham |
| Previous The Arrangements |
Next Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency |
Synopsis[]
Don and Betty visit Sally's school for a conference about their daughter’s recent bad behavior. Learning of Gene's death, her teacher, Miss Farrell, suggests that Sally’s grief over the loss may be the problem. It also probably explains Sally's many questions about Medgar Evers, the recently murdered civil rights activist.
Later that day at work, Don enters then abruptly exits a meeting at which Lane is complaining about company expenses, right down to staff consumption of pads and pencils.
Pete, reviewing his client Admiral's generally flat sales figures with Paul, concludes that the television set manufacturer is popular with African-Americans.
Admiral
In private with Don, Lane continues grousing about expenses and productivity, realizing the creative staff's penchant for cocktails followed by afternoon naps. "You came here because we do this better than you," Don replies. "And part of that is letting our creatives be unproductive until they are."
Pete takes a call from "Uncle Herman," who turns out to be Herman Phillips, now at Grey, another advertising agency. Herman Phillips invites Pete to lunch.
That evening, Sally's teacher calls the Draper home and apologizes to Don for the morning's conference. Her father died when she was eight; she might have overreacted on Sally's behalf. Don ends the call when Betty announces she’s going into labor.
"Your job's done," the intake nurse at the hospital tells Don as she pushes Betty away in a wheelchair. Betty thinks she sees Gene mopping the corridor floor and calls out to him.
In the waiting room, Don meets Dennis Hobart, a Sing Sing prison guard and first-time father. He's brought some Scotch. "I thought it'd be a party," he says.
The two men talk about fatherhood and prison life. Mentioning the prisoners he encounters, Dennis reflects that "every single one of these animals" was a baby once. "Every one of them blame their mom and dad", he adds. "That's a bull-- excuse", Don replies. Dennis agrees.
Betty, agitated because her doctor hasn't arrived, argues with the nurse who gives her a sedative. Betty slips into a dream. Wearing a summer dress, she strolls a pristine suburban neighborhood. A caterpillar slides down its string of silk into her open hand. She smiles.
Back in the waiting room, Dennis worries about his wife, who is having a breech delivery. If something happens to her, he remarks, he'd be left with the baby. "How could I love that baby?" he asks. "Our worst fears lie in anticipation," Don tells him.
Betty continues to resist her nurse. "Where's Don?" Betty screams. "Have you been with him?" she asks.
Dennis learns that his wife's delivery went fine. Pointing to the heavens, Dennis says that he doesn't know who's "up there," but he testifies to Don that his newborn son will make him a better man. "Tell me you heard me," he asks Don. "I heard you," Don assures him.
Betty slips into a dream again. Her father, still in the janitor's uniform, is at her house mopping blood. Her mother stands next to a seated black man, presumably Medgar Evers. Holding a bloodstained cloth, her mother says, "You see what happens to people who speak up?" Betty should be happy with what she has. "You're a housecat," her father adds. "You're very important, and you have little to do."
Betty wakes, holding a baby boy. "His name is Eugene," she tells Don.
Pete arrives for lunch with Herman Phillips to find that Peggy is also invited. Herman Phillips offers both of them jobs, but Pete gets up to leave. "If you want to woo me, you'll have to buy me my own lunch," he says. "You're a freewheeling career gal with great ideas," Herman Phillips later tells Peggy. "This is your time."
Back at Sterling Cooper, Pete quizzes Hollis, the building's black elevator operator, about his television. Hollis has an RCA. "A lot of Negroes prefer Admiral," Pete states, but Hollis is reluctant to continue the conversation.
The next day, Pete stuns two Admiral representatives by proposing commercials featuring white and black actors. One rep wonders if this is even legal. "Who's to say that Negroes aren't buying Admiral televisions because they think white people want them?" the other man asks.
Peggy tells Don she wants a raise in pay equal to the men. “It's not going to happen,” Don says. He's fighting for paper clips these days. "I look at you and I think, 'I want what he has,'" Peggy replies. "You have everything and so much of it." Her request denied, Peggy departs, asking, "What if this is my time?"
Pete sees Peggy exit Don's office, and asks her if she discussed Herman Phillips’s proposal with him. "Your decisions affect me," he says when Peggy refuses to say either way. Peggy walks away.
Roger and Cooper chew out Pete for upsetting Admiral, which, Cooper says, "has no interest in becoming a "colored" television company." Lane observes that as a newcomer to the United States, he senses changing attitudes regarding race. Perhaps Sterling Cooper should capitalize on this, if with another client.
Don drives Betty and the baby home. Betty describes the delivery to Francine as "all a fog." That night, the baby cries. Betty walks slowly in the direction of the sound. She pauses while he continues to wail, then proceeds into his room.
Cast[]
Main Star[]
- Jon Hamm as Don Draper
- Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson
- Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell
- January Jones as Betty Hofstadt
- Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway
- Bryan Batt as Salvatore Romano
- Michael Gladis as Paul Kinsey
- Aaron Staton as Ken Cosgrove
- Rich Sommer as Harry Crane
- Robert Morse as Bertram Cooper
- John Slattery as Roger Sterling
Guest Star[]
- Jared Harris as Lane Pryce
- Mark Moses as Herman Phillips
- Kiernan Shipka as Sally Draper
- Ryan Cutrona as Eugene Hofstadt
- Abigail Spencer as Miss Farrell
- Matt Bushell as Dennis Hobart
- Anne Dudek as Francine Hanson
- Jayne Taini as Nurse Elaine
- Michael Canavan as Bob Adamson
- Yeardley Smith as Nurse Mary
- La Monde Byrd as Hollis
- Peter Breitmayer as Raymond Garvey
Co-Star[]
- Alexa Alemanni as Allison
- Jared Gilmore as Bobby Draper
- Lou Mulford as Ruth Hofstadt